Missouri House Bill 34, which became law on July 15, changes the way prevailing wage rates are determined in the state by taking into consideration both union and nonunion wages and allowing the rates to be calculated by county.

(R-Utah) June 27 proposed a “blank slate” approach for tax reform and called on their fellow Senators to provide proposals for tax expenditures that should be added back to the tax code and improved.

The U.S. Senate voted 68-32 to pass the Border Security, Economic Opportunity, and Immigration Modernization Act (S. 744) on June 27 with language that places a limit on the number of guest worker visas available to the construction industry.

During a public-private partnership conference June 27 in Linthicum, Md., experts on P3s gathered to discuss their advantages, how they can provide savings over the long-term and Maryland’s new P3 law (H.B. 560) that went into effect July 1. 

The U.S. House Judiciary Committee passed the Legal Workforce Act (H.R. 1772) on June 26 in a vote of 22-9. The bill would establish a new mandatory employment verification system by modifying the current E-verify system. ABC sent a letter of support to the committee chairman before the vote.

The U.S. Supreme Court announced on June 24 that it will be reviewing a lower court ruling that President Obama’s early 2012 “recess” appointments of three members to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) were unconstitutional. The court likely will hear the case this fall.

ABC June 26 offered its support for the Secret Ballot Protection Act (H.R. 2346) in response to a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee hearing meant to explore legislative opportunities to strengthen the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), including H.R. 2346. 

ABC, as part of the Family Business Estate Tax Coalition (FBETC), June 19 supported the Death Tax Repeal Act of 2013 (S. 1183/H.R. 2429) that would permanently repeal the estate tax.

In testimony June 18 before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Workforce Protections, ABC General Counsel and shareholder with Littler Mendelson, P.C., Maurice Baskin said the Department of Labor’s (DOL) administration of the Davis-Bacon Act has, “hindered economic growth, increased the federal deficit and imposed an enormous paperwork burden on both contractors and the federal government.”

ABC celebrated a victory June 10 after South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) signed a bill (S.438) into law that will prohibit state government entities from requiring contractors to sign a project labor agreement (PLA) with labor unions as a condition of performing work on public construction projects.